County Insurance Premium Taxes

On Feb. 22, 2021, KACo held a virtual training on insurance premium taxes, led by John Hord, Insurance Program Manager with the Kentucky Department of Insurance. You can access a recording of that session here.

More resources from the Department of Insurance

• Kentucky Department of Insurance, Local Government Premium main page
• 2020 – 2021 Local Government Premium Tax Schedule (2020-2021)
• 2020 – 2021 Local Government Premium Tax Bulletin
• Model Local Government Premium Tax Ordinance

County Rates and Revenues

Insurance premium taxes are one of the top three revenue sources for Kentucky counties. For FY 2020-2021, 45 counties administered an insurance premium tax in at least one category. Including Jefferson ($63.2 million) and Fayette ($35.9 million), county insurance premium tax revenues for FY 2020 totaled $161.5 million.

• County insurance premium taxes fall into seven categories:
• Fire and Allied Perils (45 counties)           
• Casualty Liability Only (45 counties)        
• Vehicle (45 counties)
• Inland Marine (45 counties)
• Health (7 counties)
• Life (22 counties)
• All Other Risk Taxed (43 counties)

All 45 counties tax at least 5 of these categories. The most frequently excluded category is health insurance followed by life insurance. Tax rates range from 2 to 10 percent, with an average rate across all categories of 6 percent.

Download a list of 2020-2021 county insurance premium tax rates and revenues here.